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Wednesday, April 01, 2020

A to Z Blogging Challenge 2020: B Is For Bedwyr And Bertilak

Art by Walter Crane.  Public Domain.


Today, two people with names starting with B - Bedwyr and Bertilak. 

If you have any knowledge of the story of Arthur, you’ll know about that late scene in which the mortally wounded Arthur orders his knight Bedivere - or Bedwyr - to throw his sword Excalibur into the lake. Bedwyr lies to him twice; he can’t bring himself to throw away this amazing sword. Arthur knows he is fibbing and insists. The third time he does what he is told and a hand comes up, catches it and sinks below the waters. After that, Arthur is able to relax as three otherworldly women take him off to the isle of Avalon. In Rosemary Sutcliff’s novel Sword At Sunset, Arthur - known as Artos the Bear in that book - asks Bedwyr to do this, not for magical reasons but because his sword is too recognisable, and he doesn’t want the enemy to know he is dead. 

Bedwyr is one of Arthur’s earliest companions, along with Gwalchmai and Cei(Gawain and Kay). Mentions of him in Welsh poems go back to at least the tenth century. He is one-handed, but doesn’t seem to have any problems as a fighter. In the poem Culhwch And Olwen he plays a major role. More of that poem in a later post. 

He is also in Geoffrey of Monmouth’s History Of The Kings Of Britain, a twelfth century text.  

Rosemary Sutcliff gives him the role later assigned to Lancelot, although he only sleeps with Artos’s wife once, and is sent away, but asks to be with Artos in the final battle. 

I confess to having used him in my New Wales series, fan fiction spread across various media universes. New Wales, or Newydd Cymru(and yes, I know it should be Cymru Newydd!)is a planet in the constellation of the Unicorn. After the Battle of Camlann, Bedwyr leads his people through a portal to another world, where they settle comfortably and their descendants meet characters from the universes of Star Trek, Blake’s 7 and Robin Of Sherwood. 

Monty Python And The Holy Grail shows him as the intellectual of the group of knights galloping through Britain on foot. Bedivere is the one who suggests weighing the accused witch against a duck. 

So, on to the second B character for today, Sir Bertilak. Bertilak appears in the Middle English poem Sir Gawain And The Green Knight. There are several editions of this poem, but a recent one  was translated by Tolkien. I read the original Middle English poem  at university. 

 Gawain is on his way to the Green Chapel to meet the Green Knight, who is supposed to lop his head off. Near the end, he arrives at Bertilak’s castle. Jolly Bertilak invites him to stay till New Year’s Day, when he has that appointment, feasting Gawain each night and leaving him in the company of his pretty young wife, to go hunting. Each day there is a challenge to exchange whatever they have gained. Bertilak gives Gawain the animals he has hunted. The trouble is, Gawain’s only gain is a kiss from the wife. When he kisses Bertilak, his jolly host bursts out laughing. 

I’m rather fond of Bertilak, though he is somewhat sneaky. He knows perfectly well what is happening - and he is not exactly who Gawain thinks he is. But he has a likeable cheekiness about him. More about him in my G post! 




16 comments:

A latte beckons said...

Bertilak features as Bert the taxi driver in Alan Garner's Boneland :)

Sue Bursztynski said...

Thanks, Kate! I guess it’s time I reread The Weirdstone Of Brisingamen and The Moon Of Gomrath, so I can FINALLY get to a one land!

Sue Bursztynski said...

Boneland!

AJ Blythe said...

"Bedivere - or Bedwyr" You know, it's funny, but I've always preferred the Bedwyr spelling. It shouldn't make any difference, but it makes a difference to me in the reading.

Brian Joseph said...

Fascinating stuff. Thanks for the history behind this mythology. I must confess to not really knowing much beyond the basics.

It is very impressive thaf you are able to read Middle English!

Sue Bursztynski said...

Hi Brian! Middle English is not too difficult. Old English is not so easy! I did a semester of it in my second year at university. There are letters that we no longer use. Oddly, though, I didn’t have too much trouble with it either, because it’s close to German and I know some Yiddish, which is basically mediaeval German!

Sue Bursztynski said...

Hi Anita! I prefer Bedwyr too, but it depends on the language. Malory calls him Bedivere. He gets his inspiration from the French stories. The Welsh stories call him Bedwyr.

A Tarkabarka Hölgy said...

I love telling Gawain and the Green Knight to teenagers. Such an awesome story! :)

The Multicolored Diary

Sue Bursztynski said...

Gawain and the Green Knight may be one of my favourite Arthurian tales!

Roland Clarke said...

I'm at B and already memories are flooding back. I suspect I met Bertilak when I read Tolkien's translation in my teens.

Sue Bursztynski said...

I thought the Tolkien translation was fairly recent? Or maybe I just discovered it recently, when I bought it in ebook.

Roland Clarke said...

Tolkien's translation was published in 1975, when I was 13. So, I read it about three years later - before Lord of the Rings. I came to his fantasy via his scholarship. Here's an interesting article on the translation: https://tolkien-online.com/sir-gawain-and-the-green-knight/

Sue Bursztynski said...

Thanks, Roland, will check that out. A lot of his other stuff came out in recent years, when this or that manuscript was found and edited by his son Christopher, who has also passed away now. 😥

Ronel Janse van Vuuren said...

I've always liked the image of the hand coming out of the lake to catch the sword!

An A-Z of Faerie: Brownies

Hilary Melton-Butcher said...

Hi Sue - I'm ashamed ... I'm lost already - but I must catch up somehow ... and therefore need to read - I think I'll come back to these anon ... take care - it looks like you've done an excellent job for your readers - and will be educating others of us. Take care -Hilary

Sue Bursztynski said...

No rush, Hilary! I hope you enjoy these posts when you do read them.